The present invention relates to an apparatus, device or method for delivering and displaying secondary information on a screen, monitor, audio-visual or other sensory display device. Most of the secondary information is not displayed until the user activates a display command or until the user is finished with the primary information. At that time the device displays the full secondary information in a near-instantaneous manner.
Some related concepts are used on the World Wide Web portion of the Internet. The Wide World Web is based upon the metaphor of pages. A computer downloads a body of information (a page) from a remote source. The page is displayed and contains links to other pages. Embedded in a link (but not visible to the user, except perhaps on the device's status line) is the address of a new piece of information. When a user clicks on a link (with a pointing device such as a mouse), the user's computer searches for and connects with the remote source holding the new piece of information. The new page is then downloaded to the user's computer. The page metaphor and the ability of linking between pages focuses upon a limited information in each page, with large amounts of information created by linking pages.
This metaphor is particularly apt and useful where the pages are created and stored upon one device (so that access and downloading are almost instantaneous) or closely linked devices with high-bandwidth interconnections (such as a company intranet or LAN), broad bandwidth interconnections that are very fast and high-tech (such as a T1 connection), or any situation which so minimizes search and wait times to be practically non-existent. On the other hand, most users of the Internet are not connected to the Internet by such a high-speed, high-bandwidth technology, so that searching and downloading pages involve considerable waiting time. While technological improvements are continually decreasing waiting time, enhancements to page content (such as real time audio and video) increase the information to be downloaded and hence increase wait time. In the context of waiting, the page metaphor tends to break down.
To reduce the perceived wait time, discrete parts of a page are frequently transmitted and displayed immediately as each arrives. For example, text is downloaded first and displayed, and the graphics or pictures that accompany the text follow and are displayed subsequently. This enables the user to begin to read the page or graphic before the complete graphic or picture information has been received, reducing the actual wait time. Pictures are sometimes displayed in a similar manner: a low resolution image is displayed while a higher resolution image is downloaded (sometimes consisting of interlaced graphic images). When the downloading is complete, the higher resolution image is displayed, replacing the low resolution image. Sometimes portions of a picture will be displayed at higher resolution, while the higher resolution for the remainder of the picture is being downloaded, and portions of the picture are then replaced with higher resolution versions as they are downloaded. A small picture may be shown, which if clicked will cause an enlargement to be downloaded, or decompressed.
Real time animation is sometimes presented in a similar manner. A picture will be downloaded. The subsequent frames of the animation will be downloaded into a memory cache in the user's computer (at times along with the software applet to display the animation). Each frame is displayed (one frame at a time) when its downloading is complete. When all frames have been downloaded, the animation will show one frame at a time. Some examples can be seen at the IsAlive website at http://www.itsalive.com.
Audio is sometimes presented similarly. It is downloaded and cached. When the downloading is complete, a set of audio controls pops up. When they are clicked, the audio is activated.
In addition, when Internet browsers access a new page, the previously displayed page is temporarily saved in a memory cache. This creates a "history" of the most recent portion of the log-on experience. Users may retrace their searches (or "history") like turning back pages in a book. (The "back" command re-displays the last previously displayed page.) However, because the back pages (or portions of them) have been cached, they appear nearly instantaneously, much quicker than downloading new pages.
The electronic magazine, Word.TM. (hereafter, "Word") (at http://www.word.com), combines this caching with a related idea. The table of contents is downloaded first. When a user clicks on a link from the table of contents to view a particular section or department, a small file is downloaded from the remote source and displayed for 5 seconds, while the rest of the article is accessed and downloaded. Because the initial file is small it downloads quickly. The screen display is an advertisement, informing the user that the following article is "sponsored" by some company. This device is designed to appear like "leaders" to motion pictures, short ads or previews that occur before a feature film starts. After having accessed a section or department in the magazine, the table of contents and "sponsor" screen may be cached as history. As the user reads various articles, returning now and again to the table of contents and re-accessing the sections, the sponsor screens will be displayed (from the cached history) as nearly instantaneous "leaders." However, these "leaders" are not instantaneous when first displayed. Moreover, for them to download quickly, they must be based on small files. In addition, these "leaders" will not display as a user leaves the Word website.
Another method frequently used to reduce user wait time for Internet downloading is to avoid large images and instead to show small low-resolution images (called "thumbnail" images). If a large resolution image is available, frequently a thumbnail image is still displayed first. When the thumbnail image is clicked or activated, the device downloads the larger image file from the remote source, which may entail significant wait time. (A user can avoid the wait time if he or she does not wish to see the larger version of the image.) Instead of a thumbnail version of the image, sometimes an icon (e.g. a picture of a camera) is displayed which indicates that an image will be downloaded when the icon is clicked or otherwise activated. (Once the image file for the icon is downloaded, it can be used repeatedly on the page without downloading more images or icons.) The larger image file is also frequently accessed by activating a hypertext link that describes the picture.
In contrast, some embodiments of the present invention display a thumbnail picture or icon with the primary information, and download the larger image as secondary information into memory cache while the user reads or listens to the primary information. The larger image is displayed instantaneously upon activation of the icon or thumbnail image.
Current methods sometimes reduce wait time by beginning a long page with an index which is linked to the body of the page instead of to some other pages. Clicking a link will almost instantaneously display the relevant part of the page. The other parts of the page can also be accessed by scrolling down from the index. If the user is scrolling through the article, he or she must necessarily pass every portion so indexed.
Although some software to construct and manipulate forms on personal computers, such as Microsoft's Access.RTM. and Visual Basic.RTM., allows certain data entry into and manipulation of hidden or invisible forms, such practices have not been adapted for applications like Internet browsing which use a page metaphor. Under current Internet and desktop methods, when information is downloaded into a window, that window becomes active and is automatically displayed with the new downloaded information--on top of all other windows. This practice and methodology applies to applications a diverse as word processors, spreadsheets, help files, Internet browser pop-up windows, etc. Likewise, frames are expected to actively display their new contents.
To summarize current practice, all information is treated as primary information. Data that could be classified as secondary information is generally downloaded and displayed with primary information or downloaded in the foreground as a separate page of primary information. A small amount of graphic secondary information is hidden in Java.RTM. (hereafter, "Java") applets and shown with the primary information. Some audio-visuals require separate downloads to memory before being experienced. Some audio clips are downloaded into a memory cache for later listening.
A few exceptions to current practice have recently been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,643 (Judson), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses methods of displaying otherwise hidden information objects when "linking" on the Internet. The time period from when a user clicks on a hyperlink in an Internet web page (to access a new web page) or directly requests a new web page to when the new web page has finished downloading to a user's computer and is displayed is often referred to as "interstitial space." Judson uses this interstitial space to display the hidden information. Judson discloses that the information object is preferably placed within a comment tag of a web page and thus is "ignored" by the browser when the requested web page is received and formatted for display. The information object, however, is saved to a separate file or cache within the user's computer. Judson also discloses that the information object need not be embedded within an existing web page, but rather may be embedded within the home page of the browser or supported elsewhere within the user's computer. In either embodiment of Judson, the information object is automatically displayed when the user clicks on a link to request a new web page.
Judson's scheme has a number of significant limitations. In Judson's scheme, the information object cannot be previewed when viewing the current web page, nor can it be directly accessed via the currently viewed web page. That is, Judson must wait for interstitial space to interact with the information object or with any information content related to the information object. Since the information object is intentionally hidden, the user may not even know that it will appear during a linking. This limits the functionality and effectiveness of the information object, particularly if it is an advertisement or the like that might benefit from a preview, teaser or an initial interaction while viewing the current web page. Furthermore, Judson's disclosure is limited to an Internet environment, and no disclosure is provided to explain how the idea could be implemented in non-Internet environments where communication occurs between client and server computers, or local computers and remote information storage locations.
Other Internet programs (whether embedded in web sites or service provider access software) spawn windows that remain on the screen even though new web pages are accessed. Windows which show advertisements are common. The windows remain on the screen both during the time that the pages are downloading and after the new pages are downloaded. These programs do not automatically spawn at or during interstitial time, nor do they end at the conclusion of the interstitial time.
Despite attempts in the prior art to find ways to take advantage of interstitial space, there is still a need for methods and apparatus which more effectively use interstitial space. The present invention fulfills this need.